Do It for the Corps
by Flock5
Summary: The government officials of New Bodhum have decided that exploration of Gran Pulse is no longer necessary and imposed on the Guardian Cops a budget cut. In order to get the budget back up Vanille proposes a plan that involves Lightning and a certain fashion company.
"The budget provided by the government has dropped again, Sargent Farron." The soldier standing in Lightning's office said.

Lightning let out a heavy sigh and ran her hand through her hair. This was the second time this year that they had decided to cut back on the Corp's budget. Granted it wasn't a huge cut but it appeared that the government had lost interest in exploring the largely untouched regions of Gran Pulse. Lightning had pushed for a budget specifically for exploring Gran Pulse but the governing body had made it clear that they were content with simply keeping the area that they had built safe. In time, when the need presented itself, they said, they would set up a budget for exploration. That time, however, was not today.

"Thank you," Lightning said, looking up at the poor soldier that had to deliver the news. "You can go."

With an obvious look of relief, the soldier nodded and left her office. When the door shut behind the soldier Lightning let out another long sigh and placed her elbows on her desk. This cut was a foolish move on the government's new inhabitants of Gran Pulse may have managed to clear out the surrounding lands of monsters and set up a system that provided enough food for the people but they needed to keep expanding. Lightning and many other members of the Corps knew that the population would only continue to grow from here. It would be wise to keep expanding even though it wasn't necessary at the moment. Unfortunately, the budget cut prevented that.

As Lightning continued to ponder the budget cut the door to her office burst open. Lightning looked to see Vanille standing in the door panting. Vanille wasn't officially a member of the Guardian Corps but both she and Fang's knowledge of Gran Pulse had become invaluable.

"Lightning," Vanille panted. "The budget cut."

Lightning leaned back in her chair. "I know, Vanille."

"We need that money, Light!" Vanille said as she stepped into her office. "There are so many things out there that I…I mean, _we_ can use."

"Vanille," Lightning sighed. "What have you been attempting to build this time?"

"Nothing."

Lightning raised an eyebrow and pulled out a clipboard from her desk. "Really? The last time I checked you've been trying to build these old Pulsian machines from blueprints you found in the remains of an old, blown up building."

"Um…well, yeah. But the blueprints survived whatever happened in that building, Light. They have to be the blueprints of something awesome!" Vanille said, leaning over Lightning's desk.

"Did it ever occur to you that the building might have exploded because of those blueprints?" Lightning asked, leveling her gaze with Vanille's earnest stare.

"Yes, but I've come to the conclusion that the fault was in the material and not the design." Vanille proclaimed proudly. "The stuff that they had back then wasn't good enough but now is a different story." With that Vanille launched into a series of explanations as to how the blueprints proved that the people of that time were on to something that was far more advanced and awesome than what they should have been capable of.

Lightning closed her eyes and let out a slow, exasperated breath. "Vanille, I'm as upset about the budget cut as you are but my hands are tied. You'd have better luck convincing a Fal'cie to change his ways than getting more money back in to the Corps."

Vanille stopped her explanation and looked at Lightning with eyes filled with determination. "I'll find a way. There's always a way." With that Vanille turned around and walked out of Lightning's office.

When the door closed and silence once again filled the room Lightning turned her attention to a few reports. Something didn't sit right with her, however, and that was because she had caught the hint of a glimmer in Vanille's eyes just before she left. A glimmer in a Dia's eyes, especially a certain red haired Dia, was never a good sign and Lightning knew it.

XXXXXXX

It had been two weeks since Lightning had received news about the budget cut from Amodar and had that talk with Vanille in her office. The lack of Vanille trying to convince her to approve of some crazy plan to raise the budget alarmed her. As Lightning thought of this and sat down in her kitchen with her coffee there was a knock on her door.

Before she could get up to answer Fang called out from her living room. "I got it!"

Lightning settled back into her chair and began to sip her coffee again. As she sat there pondering the budget cut she heard a pair of footsteps quickly approaching her kitchen. She looked up to see Vanille walk in while waving a piece of paper around with Fang following closely behind.

"I've got it!" Vanille proudly proclaimed as she sat herself down on the chair opposite Lightning. "This is our solution to the budget cut!" She slid the piece of paper she was holding in front of her.

Lightning let out a soft sigh and glanced up at Fang, who was moving to sit beside her, before glancing down at the paper. To her horror the headline of the page read Louis Vuitton Modeling Contract.

"Vanille, what is this?"

"It's our solution!"

Lightning's eye twitched. "How is this our solution?"

"Well, you see," Vanille began as she cleared her throat. "Louis Vuitton is one of the leading fashion industries ever since the Fall. They've been wanting you to model some of their newest styles and I sort of told them that you were interested."

The last part was said rapidly and Lightning and Fang had to decipher what Vanille had just said. When it registered Fang burst out in a fit of laughter while Lightning had to take her hands off her coffee cup so that she wouldn't break it; or throw it at Vanille.

"You what?" Lightning asked slowly.

"She put you up for a modeling job!" Fang managed to say between laughs.

Lightning glared at Fang. "I can see that. I just want to know what in the Maker's name was going through your sister's head when she thought this plan up."

"Lightning, you've been talking about how the Guardian Corps needs the money ever since the budget cuts started," Vanille said earnestly. "This is the only way we can get it. If you model for this company you'll become an even bigger public figure! Also, I managed to get Louis Vuitton to agree to endorse the exploration of Gran Pulse. With them backing that the government officials can't ignore it." Vanille beamed.

Lightning sighed heavily and sat back in her chair while crossing her arms over her chest. "No."

"But Lightning—"

"No, I'm not going to do this."

"Aw, come on Light," Fang said placing her arm over her shoulders. "Do it for the Corps….and for me."

Lightning stared at Fang. "You knew about this."

"Not before Vanille already put you up for the contract. I did, however, get a peak at some of the outfits they want you to model. You'll look stunning in them." Fang grinned, no doubt imagining Lightning in the outfits that she saw.

Lightning smacked Fang on the back of her head. "I'll do this _not_ to fulfill whatever fantasy that's going through your head but for the Corps."

"Of course," Fang said with a huge grin on her face as Lightning grabbed a pen and signed the contract.

Vanille snatched the contract off the table the second it was signed and looked it over with a huge grin. "Yes! Yes! My plan will work and then onward to the completion of my project!"

Lightning covered her face with her hands and groaned inwardly. She had a very bad feeling about this.

XXXXXXX

The shoot was scheduled for the following Saturday. Both Lightning and Fang drove to the Louis Vuitton headquarters where the shoot was supposed to take place. When they pulled up to the headquarter's parking lot Lightning stepped out of the car and looked at the building. It was an amazing building with a lot of windows that let the light in. At the top of the building the words Loui Vuitton was written in gold letters, a stark contrast to the building's white walls.

As Lightning took in the building she let out a soft, reserved sigh. "Right."

Lightning and Fang walked into the building and were immediately greeted by Vanille and Serah.

"You guys made it!" Vanille said.

"Vanille. Serah," Lightning said in greeting. "I'm guessing you heard about this through Vanille."

"Yeah, she knew I wouldn't hear about this from you and I couldn't pass up this chance." Serah beamed.

"Right."

As Serah started chatting about all the possibilities that this would open up a lady dressed in a suit carrying a clipboard approached them. "Lightning Farron, I presume?"

"Yes."

"If you will follow me, please," the lady said as she gestured toward one of the many doors that led into the building. As they made their way through the door the lady looked back at Lightning and smiled. "Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. Louis Vuitton has been wanting to get you to model for his company for months."

"Hmph."

"What my sister is trying to say," Serah translated. "Is that she is very honored that she can help your company in this way and that she's been looking forward to this opportunity." Serah shot Lightning a pointed look as she finished.

The woman glanced back at both Lightning and Serah and grinned. "Well then, I can tell you that if this shoot goes well Louis Vuitton might be very interested in working with you more."

Lightning bit back a groan and gave the woman a stiff smile. "I look forward to it." The woman visibly stiffened with the grin but continued to smile before turning away.

They continued down the hall a little longer before taking a left turn. Lightning had to hand it to the company. Everything in the building was marble stone and very white. Despite the white, not a speck of dirt was on the floor. The company clearly cared about their building and its appearance. Lightning also noticed that the hall was sparsely decorated. Aside from the potted plants that were placed every 25 paces apart there was nothing on the walls. The same scenery continued until the group came to a door that had _S1_ written above it.

"This is studio one," their guide said as she turned to face them. "The team is already in there so they'll take care of you from here." The guide opened the door and ushered them inside, wishing them a good time before closing the door.

The group was immediately greeted by a man dressed in very fashionable clothing the second they crossed the door's threshold. "Ms. Farron, I presume? I am the head of the glamour department and have been tasked with some touch up before the shoot."

Before Lightning could return a greeting or a comment the man clapped his hands together and a group of five other people appeared at his side. "Chop chop people! We have 30 minutes."

With that Lightning was whisked away to a section of the room that was separated by a curtain. The sign above the curtain simple read _Glamour & Changing Room_. The rest of the group looked around the studio for the 30 minutes that Lightning was gone. Serah and Vanille were chatting and pointing at things while Fang kept glancing back at the _Glamour & Changing Room_. She was far more interested in what was going on that room than what was set up in the studio.

When the 30 minutes was up Lightning stepped out of the room looking largely the same save for perhaps a slight touch up on her foundation.

"What did they do to you for 30 minutes?" Fang asked, looking Lighting up and down looking for any other change.

Lightning shrugged. "I'm not sure. They just sort of did a lot of doing something and then undoing it."

Fang opened her mouth to say something but before she could get it out a man with a huge camera in his hand walked up to them.

"Ms. Farron," he greeted extending out his hand. Lightning took it and gave it a good shake as the man continued to speak. "I see the glamour team did a marvelous job as always. My name is Kian. I'll be the one taking the shots today. Now, if you'll please follow me."

Kian led Lightning to a rack that had a few set of outfits hanging on it. As Lightning took in the clothes on the rack she resisted the urge to facepalm. Each and every one of the outfits were ones that she'd be caught dead in. The worst out of the set was a silver frilled one piece that apparently was supposed to be a dress but looked more like a stretched out sponge to Lightning. The other pairs were skirts coupled with shirts save for one that revealed quite a bit of her midriff. As Lightning looked at that outfit she knew that this was the one that Fang was thinking about when she signed that contract in her kitchen. As she looked at all the outfits she was wishing more and more that she had put up more of a fight before signing the contract.

"These are the outfits that we want you to model. We'd like you to start with this one," Kian said grabbing the silver sponge dress that Lightning thought was the worse of them all. He handed it to Lightning and pointed to the _Glamour & Changing Room_. "These outfits may be a little difficult to fit into so we have a group of people in there ready to help you into them. They'll send you out when you're ready and then we'll start."

Lightning reluctantly took the dress and headed to the changing room. She was greeted by a team of three women inside who quickly took the dress and instructed Lightning to change out of her own clothes. By the time Lightning got undressed the women had the dress ready for her. They guided her into the dress and made sure that it fit her the way it was supposed to before sending her back out.

As Lightning stepped out she let out a groan. Standing before her was a grinning Serah and Vanille with Fang right behind them.

"Oh, Claire!" Serah squealed as she looked Lightning up and down. "You look amazing."

Vanille nodded her head in agreement. "Budget increase here we come."

Fang, on the other hand, could only stare at Lightning with her mouth slightly agape. Fang knew that Lighting was beautiful but to see her in a dress like that made Fang's heart stop. "Wow Light," Fang stammered. "You look…flashy."

Lightning shot Fang a glare before making her way towards Kian. Kian nodded his approval and gestured to the whitest and brightest part of the room.

"Then let's begin the shoot."

For the next hour and a half Kian had asked Lightning to take certain poses and snapped hundreds of shots of her. On occasion he would pause and look at the photo that he snapped before asking Lightning to retake the pose or change it. They repeated this with all the other outfits until Kian nodded in satisfaction with the final shot of the final outfit.

"All right. Now we move onto the video portion," he said as he signaled the team to bring in the proper equipment.

Lightning stopped cold and looked at Kian. "Video portion?"

Clearly sensing Lightning's displeasure, Kian quickly began to explain. "Well, you see, Ms. Farron. The company thought that it would help boost the sales if we shot a video of you doing some athletic moves since you're such an iconic soldier here on Gran Pulse. It was in the contract."

Lightning looked at Vanille with a look that said she was ready to strangle the red head. Vanille smiled sheepishly as she hid behind Fang. "Remember the budget, Light. Do it for the Corps."

Lightning groaned and turned back to the Kian. "What do I need to do?"

With that the following hour was devoted to the set up of the studio and Lightning getting re-glamoured. After the studio was set Lightning was asked to do several of her "signature moves" as they called it in the different outfits. Some of which she had to change back into because of the team's concern of how well the clothes would hold up with the movement. While it wasn't difficult, the heels that came with the outfits were annoying and Lightning felt ridiculous swinging a purse around instead of her gun blade. She could see Fang snickering off to the side and the only thing that kept her from throwing the said purse at the only surviving Yun was the thought of blowing the possible budget raise. Fang would survive the impact. The purse would not and the company would not be happy.

"Okay, we got it!" Kian said some time later and Lightning let out a sigh of relief. The day had gone on longer than she thought and she was ready to head home. The team helped Lightning out of her clothes and removed the excess makeup before thanking her for her time.

As they were being led out of the building Vanille and Serah were talking about how amazing Lightning looked in all the outfits and praising her for not spraining her ankle during the video portion of the shoot. Fang and Lightning walked behind them with Fang occasionally chiming in to comment on how Lightning looked or on the whole ordeal in general. Lighting, on the other hand, only chimed in to remind Vanille and Serah that she would never do this again.

"Aw, Light. You probably raised the budget higher than what it was before with this," Vanille said shooting her a blinding grin.

Once they reached the parking lot Serah turned to Fang and Lightning. "There's going to be a game night tonight at Lebreau's bar after closing time. It's kind of last minute, I know, but do you two want to tag along? Vanille's coming."

Lightning and Fang looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. "Thanks," Lightning said. "But no thanks. I sort of want a quiet evening after today."

Serah gave a nod of understanding. "You two enjoy the evening, then." With that both she and Vanille got into her car and drove out of the parking lot.

Fang and Lightning got into Lightning's car as well and as they were pulling out Fang asked "where to?"

"I was thinking take out at my place."

Fang smiled. "I was thinking the same thing. You know what else I was thinking?"

"What?"

"Next time we go on a date, we're going to a high end restaurant."

Lightning gave Fang a small smile before looking out the window. "Sounds good."

"Wait, no argument? No 'I don't do dresses'?"

"I think it's only fair that I get to see you in a dress after today. Besides, I enjoyed seeing the effect it had on you."

"I was that obvious, eh?"

Lightning smirked. "Yeah."

XXXXXXX

It was another three weeks before Louis Vuitton released the shots and the video along with the clothing line. The publicity worked even better than Vanille or Lightning had thought. Apparently many of the wives and children of the government officials were either fans of Louis Vuitton or Lightning. The budget was increased beyond that of what it was originally with a promise ensuring that the amount of Gil used for the exploration of Gran Pulse would remain untouched for as long as it was required or possible to maintain.

Vanille was happy and Lightning was pleased that the Corps didn't have to deal with problems with lack of exploration and increased population further down the road.

It was another few months before Lightning got a report from Vanille that said that the device was completed and that it was "advanced for the people of that time".

As Lightning made her way to Vanille's lab, she was uneasy about what she would find. If Vanille said that it was advanced for the people of that time then it would be something of little benefit to them now but they could perhaps learn a thing or two.

When Lightning entered Vanille's lab she was greeted by Vanille and a car sized device that was put together by an intricate network of wires and cables.

"That's…impressive," Lightning said as she took in the device and tried to figure out what it did.

"It's impressive for the people of that time," Vanille said rather unenthusiastically.

Lightning looked at Vanille and raised an eyebrow. "You said that in your reports. Multiple times. So, what does it do?"

"Um," Vanille cocked her head to the side and placed her hands behind her back. "It would be better if I showed you."

She pushed a couple of buttons on the device and stepped back as its electrical hum filled the room. As the humming began to intensify the wires toward the center began to heat up.

"Um, Vanille?" Lightning asked as the glow began to increase with each passing second.

Vanille held up her hand. "Just wait."

Lightning waited apprehensively and watched the machine as it heated up more and more. Just when Lightning through that the machine couldn't handle any more something popped out at the top. Vanille powered the machine down and went to retrieve whatever it was that popped out.

"Like I said, Light, this was advanced for the people of that time." She approached Lightning and somberly handed Lightning a plate of perfectly browned toast.

Lightning stared down at the toast. "Vanille. Tell me you're joking."

"I wish I was, Light."

"I modeled so that you could build a toaster!? How did you not catch this?"

"Because it's an extremely complicated blueprint? Plus they didn't really have the word 'toaster' back then."

Lightning's eyes twitched as she calmly placed the plate of toast on the floor. "You have ten seconds to make a run for it before I strangle you."


End file.
